Ampatuan

I had a classmate once named Ampatuan, we called him just that, Ampatuan. I think he was reasonable, he paid us some good money to do his thesis. Though I have no idea if he's part of the clan in Maguindanao, I'd assume he'd have to stay away from there, because most likely, he is clan. Apart from that, I didn't know if he had any significant knowledge, or perhaps part of the incident. I hope not.

The massacre in Maguindanao was shocking to say the least. Too many innocent, dead. It would have been a lot easier to digest if none of the dead were outside of the family. Unfortunately majority of them were, women even.

I read and I heard, spoke about it with a couple of people, thought about it a little. So I blog about it before I forget.

Yesterday, I visited some friends from my own hometown in Mindanao, they were Tausugs ,and they were Muslims. On my way, the taxi driver spoke about the massacre, and how Mindanao was different from the Visayas. He was from Sultan Kudarat, and he said it's ok if I spoke tagalog because he knew after I said my first 2 sentences that my bisaya wasn't natural, and he apologized he knew little Chavacano because I'm from Zamboanga city, which I am, in part.

According to him, the difference is that Killings here in cebu are relentless and senseless, in the streets and in the rural areas. Killings here are most often without purpose, making it more brutal, he implied.

Unlike the blood and clan wars in Mindanao, who knew who were the enemies, before shooting them down one at a time, the murders and gang wars here are just unjustifiable, and stupid.

It kind of made sense, and I nodded to whatever he said, offered my own interpretation on how back home, it's truly rare that murders are done by stabbing people at the back - without letting people know who's done it- there is always a silent code of acknowledgement even without actual confession. It was always personal, and everybody know what's going on. There were some semblance to the stories because I am from Mindanao too, the driver even assumed I was a Muslim, and I knew I know enough and have had enough experience to talk about it.

Arriving at my friend's house, I had the oppurtunity as well to listen to what he hsa to say. He had a different take on the Maguindanao massacre, and said part of it was the other party's own fault.

His revelation did not cross my mind before so I listened. Taking immorality, humanity and barbarity aside perhaps, looking into the political culture and the stronghold of the Ampatuan's business in Maguindanao, it could have gone either way. Not to mention the long and deep rivalry between the two clans - the stern warnings from the Ampatuans versus and the persistence of the victimized family. It was a question of power and territory, of pride and blood. My friend made a case that it was mostly the victim's own doing.

The word he used was "Haragan" which in Chavacano, means a deep and gross "selfishness" or "Gluttony." It was selfishness that brought them in Maguindanao, despite the warning and the imminent threats from the Ampatuans. Maguindanao wasn't their territory, they had no business there, that's just how it should be, and that's how it should be kept. Even if they pretty much knew what they were facing, and they knew that it was a grave possibility, they knew that it could happen, their being "Haragan" did not stop them from marching in.

So they were persistent, to the point of more than 50 dead. My friend almost made it sound like it, that it's the victims who's to be blamed. No, I think he believed they were indeed to be blamed. Unknowingly, I nodded - in agreement? I couldn't say, up to now.

After I stayed in their place, going home today, not surprising me was that I found myself talking with the taxi driver about the very same things. It must be the way I look with the hoodie and the place barangay I stayed in, the Tondo of Cebu, that made people think I had a lot to say about the Ampatuan incident.

Driver talked about how horrible and how important it is to line up all the Ampatuans in death row, kill all, from the ninuno, down to the last male family members who had a possible psychological make-up for the same criminal mind set.

He also spoke on how people kill in Cebu, how senseless it is to join fraternities and just be killed, senselessly. He said he once lead and founded a gang himself, but decided to just work and drive because he wanted to have 'direction.' If it was direction for a meaningful life or direction on streets, I would think it was both.

Was it because the headline today in Cebu is one that says "A gang member was beheaded," it made a lot of sense for him to talk about these. I agreed and nodded to whatever he said, almost to the point of boredom. Most of what they said I had a hard time understanding, he did not understand some things I said I had to repeat them, some of the visayan words did not register in my head, and offered my own obvious repeated opinions as well.

He wasn't done talking even after I stepped out of the taxi.

I watched tv and slept, and dreamt of somebody quietly dying.

I woke up and went on, did not find any reason or interest in finding out more facts on the Ampatuan Killings, the beheaded gang leader, the Mindanao or Visayan killing trends and behaviours - It takes too much energy to try, but one thing I've thought about is if Ampatuan, my old classmate, have learned to write his own thesis.